Lawyers Manual - Unified Court System

260 Amy E. Schwartz and Sharon Stapel
determine the presence of domestic violence and given the opportunity to
request a waiver of programmatic requirements that may place the survivor or
her children at risk. 25 Screening is supposed to take place during a face-to-face
contact as a part of the application or recertification interview. Applicants must
be screened without regard to marital status, gender or sexual orientation. 26
Local social services districts must use a standardized, confidential
screening form27 during the application and re-certification process, or complete
a screening upon request or in response to an indication of domestic violence to
any caseworker while an individual’s case is open. 28 Completing the screening
form is voluntary and not a requirement of eligibility. Applicants or recipients
may fill out the screening form or disclose domestic violence issues orally at
any time during application for, or receipt of, benefits.
Screening is not without its challenges. 29 Often survivors do not recognize
the range of tactics that are abuse and mistakenly believe that they qualify only
if subjected to physical violence. Some survivors may feel more comfortable
disclosing abuse issues only after learning about programmatic requirements
and the benefits of FVO-related waivers. Individuals may fear retaliation by
their abuser as a result of disclosure or may be embarrassed, ashamed or
suspicious of revealing this sensitive information to caseworkers. They may also
be mistrustful about the confidential nature of the information and question the
purpose for collecting this information. Additionally, survivors may interface
with caseworkers who they perceive to be judgmental, insensitive, or hostile to
their domestic violence concerns. Advocates should advise clients about their
rights to disclose domestic violence concerns at any time and assess how a
disclosure may or may not be helpful.
Regardless of how or when they are identified, applicants or recipients
with domestic violence concerns should be referred immediately to a Domestic
Violence Liaison (DVL) 30 to assess whether compliance with welfare
programmatic requirements would place the client and/or the client’s children in
danger or make it more difficult to escape the abuse. 31 The FVO cannot waive a
recipient’s basic financial eligibility requirements. 32 Although applicants and
recipients of “Food Stamps only” or “Medicaid only” are not required to be
notified of, and screened for, domestic violence under the FVO, some local
districts have opted to include these individuals in this screening process as
well. Some local districts will send these clients to the DVL for referral to
appropriate local domestic violence services. 33 While these individuals may be
able to take advantage of some limited DVL time and expertise, they will not be
eligible for any FVO-related waivers.